Special places spring 2007

Special PLACES F OR M EM B E R S A N D SUP P O RT E RS O F T H E T RU S T E E S O F R E S E RVAT I O N S

SPRING 2007 VOLUME 15

NO. 1

Seeds of Inspiration

T H E T R U S T E E S O F R E S E RVAT I O N S

© T. KATES

we want to live in and the challenges we face, and lays out a plan for rolling up our sleeves to preserve the places and experiences we care about.

Spring, growth and renewal are the metaphors for our plan, and just as in growing a garden, vision, courage and persistence are what will make it succeed. Here are a few highlights:

KENDALL’S CORNER

Hope Springs Eternal If you are a grower, by now you are deeply engrossed in plans for spring: combing through seed catalogues, dreaming of sunshine and warmth, listening, though it will be awhile, for the calls of warblers moving North, and anticipating the first flavors you’ll pluck from the ground in May. But this year, beneath the hopeful energy, I feel sadness and fear, the growing realization that we have dramatically, perhaps disastrously, altered the very earth that sustains us. In the short run changes to the earth’s climate may mean no snow, or too much snow, no rain or a deluge. In the long run, we can only dimly envision the profound challenges which we, the places we love – and all living things – are about to face.

What kind of plans can we really make? What seeds can we plant to grow a different future?

Over the past year, I have been working with colleagues, volunteers, neighbors and community partners to create a new strategic plan for The Trustees. Collectively, we have developed a blueprint for the next 20 years, not coincidentally, the time it takes to grow a new generation. The plan describes the world

We can’t do it alone, and it’s more fun not to.

We need you, your friends and neighbors, and their friends and neighbors. We need to build a new network of people who care.

The threat — and the solutions — transcend town boundaries and encompass all ages, races and viewpoints. Whether you value outdoor experience, the sense of community which comes from working alongside friends and neighbors, or your role in preserving culture and heritage, the next twenty years need you.

It’s OK to start small. Consider planting some seeds this spring by bringing someone new to The Trustees. Pick an event, plan a picnic and ask a friend or neighbor to join you. Pass around this issue of Special Places. Give a new bride and groom their own membership. Help develop a quest. Tell people, every day, why you care.

If you’ve got a big appetite for change, we’ve got a role for you. Email me at findyourplace@ ttor.org and let me know how you’d like to get involved.

If we were protecting pea tendrils from a spring frost, we’d cover them with a bell jar.

There is no bell jar for our world except our courage to act. Think of it as ‘growing’ the world you want to live in.

We are over 100,000 people like you who want to protect the places they love or who simply like to be outdoors.

Together with our neighbors, we protect the distinct character of our communities and inspire a commitment to special places across the Commonwealth. Our passion is to share with everyone the irreplaceable landscapes and landmarks that we care for – as we know how valuable they are to our lives every day.

Andy Kendall President Valerie Burns President, Boston Natural Areas Network Vice President, The Trustees of Reservations Melanie Ingalls Vice President Education & Outreach Richard Ryan Vice President Finance & Administration, CFO Kate Saunders Vice President Advancement Wes Ward Vice President Land Conservation EDITOR

Melanie Ingalls

Jocelyn Forbush Pioneer Valley Regional Director Chris Kennedy Islands Regional Director Steve McMahon Berkshires Regional Director Wayne Mitton Northeast Regional Director Dick O’Brien Central Regional Director Steve Sloan Southeast Regional Director DESIGN

Nicole Polillio Design & Production Manager Kate Wollensak Creative Director

We invite your articles, photographs, letters, and suggestions. Please send them to: Special Places Moose Hill Farm 396 Moose Hill Street Sharon, MA 02067 TEL 781.784.0567 FAX 781.784.4796 EMAIL mingalls@ttor.org For information about becoming a member

please contact us at 978.921.1944 x1858, email

us at membership@ttor.org, or visit our website

at www.thetrustees.org.

Andy Kendall PRESIDENT

Special Places, Spring 2007. Volume 15, Issue Number 1. Special Places (ISSN 1087-5026) is published quarterly and distributed to members and donors of The Trustees of Reservations.

Copyright © 2007. All rights reserved. Printed

ON THE COVER: Phallin Heang, a 17-year-old high

school senior from Lynn, shows off a pea pod at The Food Project – North Shore farm at Long Hill in Beverly. © T. KATES

on recycled paper.

Please recycle this magazine by passing it on to a friend or donating it to a school, library, business, or wherever it might be read.

Contents W W W. T H E T R U S T E E S . O R G

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S P E C I A L P L AC E S SPRING 2007 VO L . 1 5 NO. 1

C OV E R S TO RY

Seeds of Inspiration We asked growers from The Food Project, Gaining Ground, and Boston’s Symphony Road Community Garden, among others, what they are planting this spring. Their plans are as varied as the land they till.

Still, they have one thing in common: they’re sowing inspiration for the rest of us along with their seeds.

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P E O P L E A N D P L AC E

A Touch of Nonsense Over thirty years, Miss Mabel Choate and her ‘Horticultural Mentor,’ Fletcher Steele, worked in the gardens at Naumkeag. Together they created a series of whimsical landscapes that are icons of American garden design.

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L A N D C O N S E RVAT I O N

Divide and Conquer Conservation challenges and opportunities bring new focus to the Trustees’ work in the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires. There’s a new map, too.

14 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate, Canton

© J. WOLLENSAK

26 FIND YOUR PLACE

Seeds of COVER STORY

What are you planting this spring? We posed that question to five growers – community partners,

© EMILY WHEELER

staff and volunteers – on five properties affiliated with The Trustees and got five very different

answers: Key Lime Lettuce, Holy Basil, and fuzzy

squash, to be sure, but also a taste for fresh food, a dialogue with the past, a window on the world, and a sense of community.

Verena Wieloch Farm Coordinator, Gaining Ground

© EMILY WHEELER

© EMILY WHEELER

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD

At The Old Manse in Concord, farm coordinator Verena Wieloch is planting in particularly rich ground: the half-acre site where Henry David Thoreau once made a vegetable garden as a wedding present for Nathaniel Hawthorne. Today, the garden yields wonderful organic produce that Trustees’ partner Gaining Ground donates to hunger relief organizations. Devoted to mid-19th century fruits and vegetables, it also offers an exciting model for modern gardeners.

Talk to Verena and it is instantly clear that choosing among the varieties Thoreau might have planted is the opposite of a limitation.

Instead, it’s a chance to expand horticultural and culinary horizons that narrowed sadly with the advent of industrial farming. Verena points out, “There are over 3000 named varieties of potatoes, yet we see only three or four in the supermarket. We lost a lot of varieties because they don’t ship well or don’t all look the same.

However, if you are just growing for yourself, these distinctive older varieties often taste better.”

Among Verena’s favorite rediscoveries is the heirloom potato Ozette and a cucumber relative called the West Indian Burr Gherkin: “It looks like a hedgehog, but tastes fabulous.” She likes a cabbage called Late Flat Dutch with that has “huge flat head like a dish and keeps forever,” the King Umberto tomato, American Indian bean varieties Hidatsa Shield Figure and True Red Cranberry, and a radish called Black Spanish.

LEFT:

Gaining Ground’s farm at The Old Manse in Concord.

© BOSTON NATURAL AREAS NETWORK

Inspiration By selecting from the rich backlog of heirloom vegetables, Verena is able to find those particular varieties that thrive at the Old Manse. Saving the seeds, when she can, from the very best of these plants, she’s able to push this adaptation of variety to plot even further.

Verena sums up the great lesson of the garden at the Old Manse this way: “It’s a matter of making your own relationship with the soil. I think Thoreau would have approved.”

Nasreen Latif Gardener, Boston Natural Areas Network

SYMPHONY ROAD COMMUNITY GARDEN, BOSTON Nasreen Latif, a 13-year veteran of the Symphony Road Community Garden in the Fenway, is not just planting unfamiliar varieties of familiar vegetables, she’s planting vegetables that the gardeners around her don’t even recognize –– the food of her native Bangladesh. “People always come and check what I’m growing,” she laughs. “Sometimes they have no idea what will come out of a particular plant.”

Many of the most unusual plants Nasreen will be sowing this season fall into the cucurbit family of squashes and melons. These include bitter melon, “really good for health,” fuzzy squash, which Nasreen sautés with shrimp in a curry, sweet gourd, and snake

COVER STORY

by Michele Owens

gourd. “Most people think gourds are ornamental and don’t eat them,” Nasreen points out; her garden sets them straight. She also plants red amaranth, Malabar spinach, okra, daikon, holy basil, cilantro, hot chilies, and tomatoes.

Nasreen faces a few challenges in growing her native vegetables: first, getting seeds for them. Sometimes she’ll find seeds in American catalogs, recognizing the picture of a plant under an unfamiliar name. She also charges friends and family with bringing seeds back from Bangladesh. Another challenge is Boston’s relatively short growing season. She compensates for it by choosing varieties that don’t leave her waiting all summer for the fruit, but instead allow her to use leaves, stems, and flowers before the fruit arrives.

As a result, her six-by-ten-foot city plot yields so much food, she’s able to share with friends, neighbors, and her fellow gardeners, for whom she’s clearly opening up a world of new horticultural and culinary possibilities. “Having people come see my vegetables,” Nasreen says, “it’s a really good feeling.”

J. Harrison, Director of Agriculture, The Food Project - North Shore LONG HILL, BEVERLY

The new two-acre farm at the Long Hill estate in Beverly has a delightful stew of a mission. Through a collaboration between The Trustees and The Food Project, forty percent of the food sustainably grown at Long Hill is donated to hunger relief organizations. The rest is sold at nearby farmers’ markets, giving North Shore residents a significant new source of high-quality local produce.

Long Hill is also bucking a bad trend: the loss of farmland all over Massachusetts. However, the most interesting aspect of the farm’s mission involves its workforce: teenagers from the suburban and urban North Shore, a highly diverse group of young people who are getting their first tastes of the cycles of nature at Long Hill, as well as lessons in leadership. These youthful farmers helped to determine what will be planted this spring, in the farm’s second season. “We do a market analysis with them to see what might increase sales,” says J. Harrison, North Shore director of agriculture for The Food Project.

From soup kitchens to fancy suburban kitchens, Harrison points out, “Everybody loves lettuce,” and a battery of different LEFT:

Boston Natural Areas Networks’ Symphony Road Community Garden in Boston.

3

greens will be sown this year at Long Hill, everything from iceberg to frisée. Fortex pole beans are also going into the ground this spring because of the fact that they taste wonderful at every stage.

According to Harrison, “You can’t beat Sungold cherry tomatoes.”

This summer, the teenagers will also introduce their customers to edamame and long, slim Japanese eggplants. “There’s always one who “People think they are stuffs raw vegetables into his weird,” says Harrison, mouth for the spectacle of it” “until they taste them.”

— a show of bravado on a But Long Hill is not just educating its par with eating a worm. customers; it’s opening up new worlds for its workers. “These are teenagers used to eating junk food,” says Harrison. He points out that in every group, at the beginning of the summer, “There’s always one who stuffs raw vegetables into his mouth for the spectacle of it” — a show of bravado on a par with eating a worm. But by the end of the summer, their worldview has changed. “They are eating vegetables right off the plants.”

Harrison says that it’s this particular crop — inspired teenagers — that makes every growing season new and interesting: “I get to see it all through the fresh eyes of youth.”

Meryl Latronica, CSA Manager POWISSET FARM, DOVER

The 10-acre vegetable plot at Powisset Farm in Dover is another new endeavor, and its crops will be sold for the first time this season through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, a subscription service that entitles members to a share of the farm’s produce.

Meryl Latronica, the CSA manager, plans on offering the hundred families that have already signed up a mix of mainstays like lettuces and carrots and then more interesting things that the supermarkets don’t offer. She plans on planting kohlrabi, a root vegetable with a sweet, cabbage-like flavor that she says is “really fun. People either love it or hate it.” She’ll also be offering “wonderful” big leeks; fennel, which she says is “great roasted with other vegetables”; heirloom tomatoes; and those same Sungold cherry tomatoes J. Harrison mentioned, “my favorite and you don’t see them in the grocery stores.”

TOP :

4

Tending The Food Project – North Shore’s farm at Long Hill in Beverly.

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© T. KATES

COVER STORY

However, Meryl is not just determined to offer her customers a more various and zestful diet than the supermarket offers, she’s also determined to add a certain zest to their lives. A children’s garden will be planted near the distribution shelter to encourage entire families to come to the farm. “We’ll have little demonstrations there, maybe something interactive.” There will also be a “pick-your-own” herb garden where her members will always be able to go for a bunch of basil. And there will be “pick-yourown” vegetables, too.

Meryl explains, “Some people have signed up with us just because they are committed to sustainable agriculture. They may have no interest in heading out to the fields. For other people, the time they spend walking out to see the vegetables will be a real treasure. We’re going to make it comfortable for our members to do either one.”

Laura Bibler, Chair, Property Committee STEVENS-COOLIDGE PLACE, NORTH ANDOVER

Unlike the other growers we spoke with, you won’t catch landscape designer Laura Bibler rhapsodizing over the flavor of a certain cherry tomato when she talks about the vegetable garden at StevensCoolidge Place whose rehabilitation she mapped out in 2001.

That’s because this is a vegetable garden on a French model, inspired by potagers, which, Laura explains, “use fruits, vegetables, and flowers in artistic combinations to stimulate the senses.” A nice meal is not the main purpose of such a garden; beauty is.

Laura adds, “The Coolidges, who created the garden in the 1930’s, already had a vegetable garden elsewhere.”

With a serpentine wall providing a stunning backdrop, the French Garden’s 58 beds make a powerful argument for the aesthetic glories of utilitarian plants. Vegetable varieties are generally chosen for the interesting textures and colors of their foliage and fruits. This spring, cardoons, an artichoke relative with towering silver leaves, will be planted because they “make such a dramatic statement.” Purple kohlrabi, Bull’s Blood beets, Ruby Red Swiss chard, and Key Lime lettuce will add large blocks of color to the garden. The substantial leaves of Red Danish cabbage and the frilly tops of Danvers Half-Long carrots will make for a piquant contrast.

Tomato varieties that will be used for their visual appeal include Garden Peach and Eva Purple Ball.

Adding interest will be flowering annuals such as Empress of India nasturtiums, white marigolds, and the highly perfumed purple heliotrope; shapely perennials such as santolina; and fragrant herbs such as lavender and oregano.

“People are really drawn to this garden,” says Laura, “though they are not always cognizant of why.” Of course, the garden is highly designed, calculated to provide particular pleasures at particular moments, so labor-intensive it couldn’t exist without the generosity of many volunteers, a triumph of control. “It’s French!” Laura laughs.

It’s also an inspiration, reminding us that even in the most basic necessities of human life — growing food to feed ourselves — there can be beauty of a high order.

Michele Owens, who bites off more than she can chew as a matter of policy, has a town garden in Saratoga Springs, NY and a country garden in Salem, NY.

BELOW : A

serpentine wall frames the French Garden at the Stevens-Coolidge Place in North Andover.

© LAURA D. BIBLER

© LAURA D. BIBLER

COVER STORY

5

©A.MERULLO

PEOPLE AND PLACE

PEOPLE AND PLACE

A Touch of

Miss Choate and Her ‘Horticultural Mentor’ Cultivate Wit & Whimsy at Naumkeag

Nonsense

by Susan Edwards

Miss Mabel Choate enjoying

TO R / H IS © T TO

R IC A

R C H IV

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her Afternoon Garden.

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PEOPLE AND PLACE

BETWEEN 1926 AND 1958, MABEL CHOATE AND FLETCHER

Steele corresponded weekly, often daily, about their work in the gardens at Naumkeag, the country house in the Berkshires where her family had summered since the 1870s. Mabel Choate was a preservationist, a horticulturalist, an avid collector of antiquities, and a worldwide traveler. Steele – considered by many to be America’s first modern landscape architect – was her horticultural mentor, and his commission at Naumkeag was the longest of his career. Their letters, journals and reminiscences offer a portrait of an enduring friendship between an artist and patron who shared a passion for plants, an appetite for fun, and a playful approach to garden-making.

Together they produced a series of landscapes – from the

Pink concrete Roman thrones match the pink gravel, and look well, though they are monstrously uncomfortable to sit on. (One can’t try out a seat of wet clay in a studio to see how it fits.)

FLETCHER STEELE

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HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

1933

Afternoon Garden to the Blue Steps – which are icons of American garden design.

Mabel Choate and Fletcher Steele met at a gathering of the Lenox Garden Club in 1926. Steele had just published Design in the Little Garden as well as articles in House Beautiful and Country Life in America. Choate had recently returned from a trip to California with the Garden Club of America.

She was keen to have an outdoor ‘room’ like those she had seen there and engaged Steele to create it. He recalls the story: The first call was for a garden in which to be comfortable. An old wall gave protection from the public road, but there was no place near the house to find privacy on a garden chair, out of view of the constant visitors. Besides the slope fell away so quickly from the library door that no chair could rest on four legs.

LEFT :

Fletcher Steele ‘relaxing’ in one of the Roman

©TTOR / HISTORIC ARCHIVES

thrones he designed for the Afternoon Garden.

BACKGROUND :

Steele’s original sketch of the

Afternoon Garden’s fanciful gondola poles.

©TTOR / HISTORIC ARCHIVES ©R.CHEEK

… I realized, on walking through a colonnade, that I felt well enclosed, yet could see between the columns. So we used some oak piles which had been for seventy-five years under the waters of Boston Harbor. … Their shape must be good, yet a touch of nonsense would do no harm. Why not put Venetian gondola posts, rising out of the sea, up on the top of a hill? Why not follow the color of the trappings seen in medieval manuscripts, which are both strong and gay?

The vibrantly colored Gondola poles were just the beginning, and framed a fanciful setting from which to take in the Berkshire hills.

The garden room needed a giddy carpet. To please both eye and ear, four little fountains, memories of Moorish gardens like the Generalife near Granada, were set to start a pattern. Between them was laid an oval of shining black glass, covered by half an inch of water from the fountains. … The pool looks deep and visitors are startled when they see little dogs walking on the water.

The Afternoon Garden, as it came to be called, elicited enthusiastic response from across the country, including this from the July 1933 Santa Barbara Gardener: Have you seen the photographs of The [Afternoon] Garden in House Beautiful for July? Did you get a thrill from them? … It is genius.

When you have studied these pictures you will have gained … [an] important idea, that garden design can have a large element of fun in it. Mr. Steele says, “Why be solemn in a garden?” and why indeed?

For Choate and Steele, the Naumkeag gardens were an endless source of experimentation, with both plants and visual effects. In an essay entitled “Coal in My Garden”, Mabel Choate recounts the playful exchange she and Steele had regarding the troublesome blue and yellow flowers in the knot garden.

My Afternoon Garden, is my joy and my delight. … But, the one great annoyance of this earthly paradise, has been the Lobelia; which never would behave. … Finally last autumn, after careful observation, I said one day to my Horticultural Mentor: “I know what is the

LEFT :

Mirrored glass made

the pool look deep and visitors were startled when they saw Miss Choate’s dogs walking on the water. | Tree Peony.

matter with the Lobelia.” “What”, said he? “Why, its feet are too hot. … Couldn’t I put down a slab of stone with holes in it, and let the Lobelia grow through that”? “Certainly not”, said he, horrified; “it would spoil the design.” “Well, how about more paving stones, like the terrace”? “Oh, no, that would never do.” Nothing daunted, I suggested linoleum, painted boards and everything else I could think of; but all in vain; so the subject was dropped. In the following spring, when we were looking at the Garden, the Mentor suddenly said, “I have an idea for the Lobelia.” “What is it,” I cried in great excitement. “Coal”, said he, “let’s put coal around each of the plants; that will keep their feet cool, and would look well besides.”

In addition to the blue black coal, Steele ultimately added chips of pink and green marble, substituting texture and color for plant material.

Steele had been exposed to the art moderne style in 1925 at the Paris Exposition. Throughout his tenure at Naumkeag, he experimented with modernist principles and incorporated their stylized features into the gardens and landscape. The scale and complexity of his artistic vision is remarkable given the steep, rocky site and the fact that much of the work was done by hand.

One project led to another as time, travels, and inspiration allowed. The South Lawn is a case in point. In her garden memoirs, Mabel Choate wrote: The Southern Lawn from the Afternoon Garden down to the Linden Walk had never been satisfactory … a steep hill, hard to walk on and looking curiously out of place with the more finished appearance of the rest of the place. We talked about how to improve it and Mr. Steele suggested various slopes and terraces but nothing was decided on. One day when I was walking [on Prospect Hill Road] a long line of trucks filled with earth passed me. … I asked the driver where they were coming from, and where they were going. “Oh”, he said. “Mrs. So and So is building an addition to her house and we are going to the Village Dump.” Horrified, I asked if I could buy it.

“Sure,” said he –“50 cents a load.”

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© S.SHEPPARD ©TTOR / HISTORIC ARCHIVES

While the driver waited she quickly telephoned Steele who instructed her to buy it and place it on the south lawn. … soon there was a high wall of dirt all the way up to the Afternoon Garden. As we were busy with other work just then, there it stayed for two or three years, much to the mystification of our neighbors; but we did not care how it looked as we were so thrilled thinking of future plans.

Between 1933 and 1937 Steele moved the massive wall of dirt to create an abstract form with swinging curves and slopes inspired by the silhouettes of the distant mountains and by the experiments of modern sculptors such as Brancusi. In a letter to his sister, Steele describes what he hoped to achieve at Naumkeag with the South Lawn and the place in its entirety.

The vital importance of curving form which was begun on the south lawn here at Naumkeag generated by the curve of Bear Mountain beyond … was a satisfactory experiment. So far as I know it was the first attempt that has ever been made to incorporate the form of background topography into foreground details in a unified design.

Although Choate was clearly pleased with the result, Steele wrote that she did not guess at “the shudders of her professional landscape advisor whose duty it was to make them feel at home on a New England hillside.”

Later in the summer, Ralph Adams Cram, the great architect, came with Mr. Steele to see the place and one day when we were out in the garden he said: “Miss Choate, do you mean to say you are going to leave all these Oriental sculptures standing around your Victorian house?” “Certainly,” I said: “The old sea captains were always bringing back Chinese treasures.” “Well,” he said, “it’s an outrage.

You should build a Chinese House and place them properly.” – an idea that Steele heartily endorsed. … Of course I caught their enthusiasm and very soon work was begun.

Foo Dogs, lions, a marble Emperor’s stone from the Old Summer Palace at Peking and plantings were all incorporated into the garden design providing a spiritual oasis. Numerous Oriental trees and plants enhance the garden. Pink brick walls, reminiscent of those in the Forbidden City surround the garden and there is a zig-zag

All of Naumkeag and the landscape beyond will be like the unfolding of a seashell whose nucleus is the Chinese Garden itself. FLETCHER STEELE In addition to modern art, Steele and Choate drew upon their foreign travels for ideas and inspiration. In 1935, Miss Choate traveled to China with the Garden Club of America and subsequently to Korea. Throughout her voyage, she collected Oriental treasures with which to embellish her estate.

From the time we reached San Francisco on our way to Japan I began to buy Chinese sculptures. … These I had shipped to Mr. Steele in Boston, thinking that as he was a professional architect, he would know how to deal with them, and so it was. When I got home to Stockbridge they were all dotted about on the lawn …

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Devil’s screen providing an entrance. The temple was constructed two years later and sited to provide a magnificent mountain view.

As Steele said, “All of Naumkeag and the landscape beyond will be like the unfolding of a seashell whose nucleus is the Chinese Garden itself.”

Although Steele publicly stated that the Chinese Garden “was built to bring a recollection of the atmosphere and appearance of places seen in China” his biographer reveals that he wrote privately to his sister: “Of course it is no more Chinese than an old parlor in Salem filled with Chinese objects.” Choate’s enthusiasm was unflagged. In a letter to Steele, she wrote: “I have just been out and seen the Temple, and it really is perfectly grand!”

©R.CHEEK ©TTOR / HISTORIC ARCHIVES

I will bring the Smooth-On [a cement grout] the next time I come as there is no use letting Mr. Crighton [the caretaker] think that that is still another job that I am putting on him. It is supposed to be recreation for you and me.

LEFT TO RIGHT :

Mountain. |

Steele sketch of the Perugino View towards Bear

Foo Dog guarding the Chinese Temple. | No expense

was spared to create a desired effect. This massive elm was one of two carted up to the top lawn in a freak snow storm in the fall of 1931. | The Blue Steps. | The Blue Steps under construction, 1939.

Choate and Steele apply paint samples to determine the proper shade of blue.

More than 50 years after they were created, the landscapes at Naumkeag still convey their character as garden rooms shaped by the beauty and the brilliance of the Berkshire Hills. All of the principal elements of the estate still remain – the gracious and comfortable residence, the eclectic assemblage of gardens and landscape features, and the stunning mountain scenery. And, if one listens carefully, the laughing echoes and infectious enthusiasm of Mabel Choate and Fletcher Steele can still be heard.

Susan Edwards is The Trustees of Reservations’ Director of Historic Resources.

RIGHT :

The Moon Gate

Indeed, it provided a good deal of recreation, and selection of the correct colors occupied much of their time when Steele went to Naumkeag. Mabel Choate wrote that summer:

was the final element

Speaking of the blue steps, I must tell you we have painted the railing with one coat, but are holding off doing the second until you come, as I do not think it is quite the right color. ... I tried to match the birch bark but it looked too pink … . It looks far better with the new paint, and I think it’s going to be lovely.

Naumkeag gardens

Steele’s signature design and their joint efforts resulted in one of the world’s most famous 20th-century designed landscapes.

One other idea to which Steele introduced his friend and patron was that of bequeathing Naumkeag to The Trustees. It was something which they discussed deeply and at length and on which they came to share a common vision.

of the Chinese Garden.

With it in place, Choate and Steele felt the

were truly complete.

©TTOR / HISTORIC ARCHIVES

The spirit of their creative problem solving is most perfectly captured in one of Naumkeag’s most iconic features: the Blue Steps. In 1938 Mabel Choate requested that Steele build her a set of steps so that she could gain easy and safe access to her cutting garden at the base of the hill. The steep and slippery terrain was something that she said she “could not stand another minute”. In recounting the event, Choate said, “Little did I realize what I was in for as he returned with a plan of steps so easy and attractive that I could not resist.”

Steele framed a traditional water staircase in industrial pipe and concrete, juxtaposing the mechanical curves of Art Deco with the lithe forms of white birch. His design made a bold and visually stunning statement and wittily addressed the tension between art and nature that had preoccupied landscape architects for the first half of the twentieth century.

As always, this project was collaboration. In the beginning there were some minor problems with concrete leaks. Steele wrote:

DIVIDE AND CONQUE R

Redrawing the map of Western Massachusetts to meet its conservation challenges.

by Kathleen McKenna

F O R S O M E B O S TO N I A N S , W E S T E R N M A S S AC H U S E T T S

brings to mind Saul Steinberg’s famous View of the World cover for The New Yorker: first there’s Route 128, then Tanglewood, and beyond that the Pacific; and until now, The Trustees’ own map had a single management region stretching from Holyoke to Stockbridge. But new conservation challenges and opportunities have brought the map into sharper focus, resulting (as of April 1) in two new regions: the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires.

The move, says Wes Ward, vice president for land conservation, is “an opportunity to concentrate on two separate, but equally important, areas, both of which have great conservation value and serious challenges to their landscapes.”

The new Berkshires Region will be based in Stockbridge and led by Steve McMahon, who will build a more robust presence at some of The Trustees’ quintessential properties, including

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THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

Monument Mountain, the Mission House, Naumkeag, and Bartholomew’s Cobble.

“We’ve been thinking about creating a new region for years,” McMahon says. “We found we just can’t do it all from one office in Stockbridge.” Besides, he says, the two regions call for different conservation strategies. While the Berkshires conjure up quaint historic villages and cultural attractions, the Pioneer Valley brings to mind working farms and the old mill towns of the 19th century.

Land hanging in the balance along the Connecticut River is largely agricultural, while the landscape of the Berkshires is mainly forested.

Lila Berle, a sheep farmer and Trustees volunteer whose family has lived in the Berkshires for six generations, applauds the reorganization, saying it will “free up time” to help The Trustees better protect the landscape she loves.

“Even as we seem to be flourishing, we’re destroying ourselves,”

she says, referring to the second-home development that’s affecting southern Berkshire County, in particular. “The need to conserve land only accelerates as people understand how wonderful it is here.”

Berkshires volunteer Rachel Fletcher agrees. “It’s hard to get your arms around what makes the Berskshires unique, but it is,” Fletcher says. “It’s a hand-crafted landscape, shaped by people like farmers and African-Americans. The Trustees’ properties, such as the Ashley House in Sheffield, share those stories, and with new focus on the region, we hope to preserve more of what makes it special.”

In Holyoke, Jocelyn Forbush, who will direct the new Pioneer Valley Region, says one of her team’s main goals will be protecting farmland from development.

“Once land is developed, there’s no getting it back,” she says. “We are going to push to protect the agricultural and cultural heritage of this region in a way that benefits everyone.”

Elizabeth Wroblicka, a land use attorney and Trustees volunteer from Northampton, couldn’t agree more. She notes that The Trustees have been working in the Pioneer Valley since 2001, laying the groundwork for a stronger conservation program. “We’ve invested in education and community organizing to build a presence. Now we can build on that foundation to focus on significant land conservation projects, as well.”

Grassroots outreach is a key tool for Forbush. At Little Tom Mountain Reservation on the outskirts of Holyoke, The Trustees have joined with the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club to teach local children and youth about the natural wonders in their backyard.

“Every child is a potential conservation leader,” Forbush says. “We want them to get to know the place they live, and understand all the ways a healthy landscape protects their families, their livelihood, and quality of life in their community.”

A companion strategy is at work in the 38 rural hill towns between the Connecticut River and the Housatonic, where Forbush’s colleague, Wendy Sweetser, is helping communities make informed decisions about the future of their fields and forests.

The Trustees’ Highland Communities Initiative also engages towns in proactive planning and conservation efforts, such as updating zoning regulations, and more recently, helping pass the Community Preservation Act. “As development moves into this region, we’re making sure people and communities are ready for it,” Forbush says. “We’re looking to engage new folks who may not consider themselves ‘conservationists', but who care deeply about the character of the place they live.” Adds Steve McMahon, “People in every community know they lose when special places are lost forever.”

Trustees’ members enjoy a 10% discount on stays of two nights or more. Proceeds benefit our conservation work at Field Farm and the Crane Estate.

©R.CHEEK

LAND CONSERVATION

FROM THE BERKSHIRES TO THE OCEAN – STAY IN LUXURY

554 Sloan Road,Williamstown 413.458.3135 www.guesthouseatfieldfarm.org

©DERBY STREET STUDIOS

Kathleen McKenna is a freelance writer living in Hingham.

T h e I n n at C a s t l e H i l l

©TTOR

©B. WARREN

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LEFT :

Tyringham Cobble,Tyringham

RIGHT :

Kids from the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club discover spring at Little Tom Mountain.

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280 Argilla Road, Ipswich 978.412.2555 www.craneestate.org

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SPRING EVENTS! MARCH THROUGH JUNE 2007

Find more to do online – visit us at www.thetrustees.org BERKSHIRES REGION Late March /Early April TBA | 8-10PM

Salamander Migration Night

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

The first “warm”, rainy nights of spring trigger salamanders and frogs to begin their seasonal journey to breed in vernal pools.We will try to find them. Bring a flashlight and rain gear.

Please pre-register. Space is limited. Members: $5.

Nonmembers: $6.

Saturday, April 7 | 10AM-12:30PM

Vernal Pool Certification with Tom Tyning – Family Workshop BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Vernal pools are crucial for the survival of wood frogs, fairy shrimp, spotted salamanders and many other species. Unfortunately, they are not protected unless formally recognized.

We’ll visit a vernal pool at the Cobble and learn what it takes to certify and protect these special places. Bring rubber boots.

Please pre-register. Members: Adult/Child $5.

Nonmembers: Adult/Child $6.

Saturdays, April 14 & 21 | 10AM-12NOON

Life in a Vernal Pool – Family Workshop

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Explore life in our spring ponds.We’ll look for egg masses of wood frogs and salamanders, search for fairy shrimp and fingernail clams, and learn about the ecology of these complex natural communities. Come prepared to get wet and muddy. Please pre-register. Members: Adult/Child $4; Family $10. Nonmembers: Adult/Child $6; Family $15.

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Saturday, April 21 | 9:30-11:30AM

Sunday, May 6 | 1- 3PM

Signs of Spring

Wildflower Walk at Field Farm – Family Hike

DRY HILL RESERVATION, NEW MARLBOROUGH 413.268.8219

It’s spring, and many critters have already hit the pool! Join Ecologist Julie Richburg to learn how important vernal pools are, as well as how to identify the pools and their inhabitants. FREE. Daily, April – December |

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD

Follow the clues on this self-guided journey back through time to the days of the Mohicans and the earliest European settlers. Fun for Families. Quest clues and map available at Bartholomew’s Cobble Visitor Center. FREE.

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Every Thursday, mid-April – October | 9-11:30AM

Volunteer Work Days

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

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Join friends and neighbors as we pull, clip, lop, and chop to rid the Cobble of some noxious weeds. Better than a morning at the gym. Call for more information. FREE.

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Saturday, April 28 | 9AM-1PM (RAIN

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OR SHINE )

Volunteer Work Day

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Join Pam Weatherbee on this leisurely hike through the rich woodlands of Field Farm to enjoy a diversity of spring flora. Meet at the Field Farm parking area off Sloan Road, Williamstown. Wear good footwear. FREE.

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Thursday, May 17 | 9AM-12NOON

Garlic Mustard Jamboree

413.229.8600

Help spruce up the Cobble for the coming season! We’ll work on trail maintenance and general spring clean up. Bring a lunch; refreshments and snacks provided. Please let us know you are coming - we need to plan! FREE. Sundays, April 22 – May 27 | 8-10AM

Bird Walk – Spring Migration BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Volunteers needed!

SUNRISE TO SUNSET

Rocks, Roads, and Revolution Quest

FIELD FARM, WILLIAMSTOWN 413.298.3239

Explore various avian habitats as spring migrants arrive. Birders of all levels are welcome. Bring binoculars. Please pre-register. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $5; Child $3.

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

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Join friends and neighbors as we battle one of Bartholomew’s Cobbles biggest threats. One big concerted effort will set the stage for our invasive species control season. Bring a lunch; refreshments and snacks provided. Call for details. FREE to all.

Saturday, May 19 | 11AM-1:30PM

Wild Edibles – Family Workshop BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

You’ll learn how to identify dozens of wild plants you can eat, collect them in the wild, and incorporate them into your own cuisine.

Please pre-register. Members: Adult $6; Child $3.

Nonmembers: Adult $8; Child $4.

Memorial Day, May 28 | 9AM-12NOON Saturdays, June 2 & June 9 | 8:30-11:30AM Sundays, June 10 & June 17 (FATHER’S DAY) | 8:30-11:30AM

Housatonic Paddle – Guided Canoe Trip

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Paddle the winding Housatonic with us and explore the rich and varied habitats of the river. Look for bald eagles, great blue herons, kingfishers and bank swallows. Bring a hat, sunscreen, water and binoculars. All other equipment is provided. Please pre-register.

Members: Adult $15; Child (10 -16) $10.

Nonmembers: Adult $25; Child (10 -16) $15.

Saturday, June 23 & 30 | 10AM-12NOON

Saturday, June 16 | 1-3:30PM

Incredible Insects – Family Hike

Quest Fest! – Family Activity

413.229.8600

413.229.8600

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD

A fun-filled search for beetles, antlions, dragonflies, butterflies and other amazing insects.

Strictly catch and release! Wear long pants and socks. Please pre-register. Members: Adult/Child $4; Family $10. Nonmembers: Adult/Child $6; Family $15.

Come on a treasure hunt that will take you back through time to the days of the Mohicans and the earliest European settlers. Learn about the “sport” of questing and make your own rubber stamp for the book where the treasure hides. Please pre-register. Members/Nonmembers: $3 materials cost.

Saturday, June 30 | 9-10:30PM

Full Moon Hike

Sunday, June 24 | 9AM-2PM

413.229.8600

Sheffield Covered Bridge to the Cobble – Guided Canoe Trip

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD

Come explore the sights and sounds of our forests and fields by moonlight. Please pre-register.

Members/Nonmembers: Adult $5; Family $10.

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

Explore an extraordinarily scenic 9-mile stretch of the Housatonic River, rich with wildlife and local history with a naturalist/guide. Bring a picnic lunch. Call for more information. Please pre-register. Members: Adult $25; Child (10-16) $15. Nonmembers: Adult $35; Child (10-16) $20.

HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUMS Daily, May 26 – Columbus Day | 10AM-5PM

Naumkeag

STOCKBRIDGE 413.298.3239 X3000

© R. CHEEK

Berkshire country estate in spectacular setting with delightful gardens by celebrated landscape architect Fletcher Steele. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $3. Family discovery pack, “Look Closely with Kipper,” $5 rental fee.

Sunday, April 22; Sunday, April 29; Saturday, May 5; Mother’s Day, May 13 10:30AM-12NOON

Spring Wildflowers

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE, SHEFFIELD 413.229.8600

In spring, the Cobble is awash in woodland wildflowers – Hepatica, Spring Beauty, Dutchman’s Breeches, Cut-leaved Toothwort, Red and White Trillium.You’ll learn how these spring ephemerals are specially adapted to complete their life cycle before the trees leaf out. Please pre-register.

Members: Adult / Child $4. Nonmembers: Adult/Child $6.

Daily, May 26 – Columbus Day | 10AM-5PM

The Mission House

STOCKBRIDGE 413.298.3239 X3000

18th century home of the first missionary to the Stockbridge Mohicans. Fine collection of furniture and ceramics. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $6, Child $3.

Open Saturdays & Sundays, May 26 – Columbus Day | 10AM-5PM

The Colonel John Ashley House SHEFFIELD 413.298.3239 X3000

Home of Mum Bett, an enslaved African woman who successfully sued for her freedom in 1781.

An anchor site on the newly created African American Heritage Trail. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $5, Child $3.

Saturdays, June 23 – October 6 | 12NOON-5PM

The Folly at Field Farm

FIELD FARM,WILLIAMSTOWN 413.298.3239 X3012

Modern architectural gem by Ulrich Franzen, built in 1966. Open daily for self-guided tours of modern sculpture in the gardens. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $5, Child $3.

CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Sunday, April 1 | 1-2:30PM

Tisbury Pond Club Walk – Guided Hike

LONG POINT WILDLIFE REFUGE, MARTHA’S VINEYARD, WINTER SIDE (DEEP BOTTOM ROAD) 508.693.7662

Hear the tale of a special hunt club whose members yearned to keep Long Point open and wild, and visit our newly constructed wildlife viewing blind. FREE. Sunday, April 15 | 1-2:30PM

12,000 Years of Open Space – Guided Hike

WASQUE RESERVATION, MARTHA’S VINEYARD 508.693.7662

Walk timeless pathways and learn about the fascinating community effort to preserve one of the Vineyard’s rarest habitats. Meet at Fisherman’s parking lot. FREE. Sunday, April 29 | 1-3PM

Cedars Beach Hike

CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.693.7662

Walk the sands from East Beach to the Cape Poge Cedars.We’ll have refreshments at the end of your trek, and our oversand vehicles will take you back. Pre-registration required, space is limited. Strenuous activity: not suitable for all. 1.25 miles. Members: Adult $7, Child $3.

Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5.

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Saturday, May 5 | 9AM-12NOON

Mytoi Spring Clean Up and Picnic

MYTOI, CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.693.7662

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Spend a morning with friends and neighbors caring for the Island’s premier Japanese-style garden. Bring work gloves, rakes and shovels.

Lunch is on us! Meet at Mytoi on Chappaquiddick. Please pre-register.

Thursday, June 28 | 6:30-8:30PM

Paddle into the Night – Guided Canoe Trip CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.693.7662

Discover the beauty of Cape Poge Bay paddling its waters at twilight. Weather permitting.

Pre-registration required, space is very limited.

Members: Adult $40, Nonmembers: Adult $47.

SpecialPLACES | SPRING 2007

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ISLANDS REGION NATURAL HISTORY TOURS Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM & 2PM ( TOUR DURATION : 2.5 HOURS )

Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 8:30AM & 1:30PM ( TOUR DURATION : 4 HOURS )

Daily, June – October | 1-2PM

Fishing Discovery Tour*

Climb to the top of Great Point Lighthouse and enjoy the view, while learning about this historic structure.Transportation to Great Point is not provided. Members only. FREE.

CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.627.3599

Our expert fishing guide will transport you by oversand vehicle to enjoy surfcasting from the legendary fishing beaches of Wasque and Cape Poge. Includes instruction. Members only: Adult $60, Child (under 16) $25. Not a member?

You can join when you make a reservation.

Cape Poge Natural History Tour* CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.693.7662

Travel by oversand vehicle across barrier beaches and through rare maritime forests to enjoy birding, beachcombing, and a visit to the Cape Poge Lighthouse. Members: Adult $30, Child (under 16) $15. Nonmembers: Adult $35, Child (under 16) $18.

Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM, 12NOON & 2PM ( TOUR DURATION : 1.5 HOURS )

NORTON POINT BEACH, EDGARTOWN 508.693.7662

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Join friends and neighbors at Norton Point Beach as we clear marine debris and provide a clean place for nesting shorebirds to raise a family! Meet at left fork. FREE.

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THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

© ROYSE

Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM -5PM ( DURATION 4 OR 8 HOURS )

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.627.3599

CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

With a trail map in hand, paddle through the salt waters of Poucha Pond at your own pace!

Members only: 4 hours for $25 or 8 hours for $35 (per canoe or kayak). Special membership offer available.

Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM & 2PM ( TOUR DURATION : 2.5 HOURS )

Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM-5PM ( QUEST DURATION : 3 HOURS )

Wildlife of Cape Poge – Guided Kayak Tour*

CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

Cape Poge Quest

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.627.3599

Join our naturalist for a guided paddle through the beautiful marine habitats of Chappaquiddick.

Members: Adult $30, Child (15 and under) $15.

Nonmembers: Adult $35, Child (15 and under) $18.

Drive your 4X4 vehicle through 516 acres of Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge on a treasure hunt for the Quest box! Cape Poge and Wasque Oversand Vehicle Permit required. Quest clues and map available at Chappaquiddick Gatehouse.

Daily, June 15 – September 15 | 8:30AM, 11AM, & 1:30PM ( TOUR LASTS 1.5 HOURS )

Daily, April – December | SUNRISE ( QUEST DURATION : 3 HOURS )

Wildlife of Long Point – Guided Kayak Tour

MENEMSHA HILLS RESERVATION, CHILMARK

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.693.7662

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ISLANDS REGION SELF-GUIDED TOURS

CHAPPAQUIDDICK 508.627.3599

CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

Earth Day Celebration!

WILDLIFE REFUGE, NANTUCKET 508.228.6799

Kayak Poucha Pond – Self-guided Kayak Tour

Take a journey through Cape Poge by oversand vehicle to enjoy breathtaking views from atop the lighthouse. Members: Adult $15, Child (15 and under) $10. Nonmembers: Adult $20, Child (15 and under) $12.

Sunday, April 22 | 1-3PM

GREAT POINT LIGHTHOUSE, COSKATA-COATUE

Cape Poge Lighthouse Tour* CAPE POGE WILDLIFE REFUGE,

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Open Lighthouse

LONG POINT WILDLIFE REFUGE, MARTHA’S VINEYARD 508.693.7392

Join our naturalist for a kayak adventure through Tisbury Great Pond. Leaves from special tours-only parking area, off-season entrance gate located at the end of Deep Bottom Road. Members: Adults $15. Nonmembers: Adult $20, Child (15 and under) $10.

Daily, June – October | 9:30AM & 1:30PM ( TOUR DURATION : 2.5 HOURS )

Natural History of Coskata-Coatue – Guided Oversand Vehicle Tour COSKATA-COATUE WILDLIFE REFUGE, NANTUCKET 508.228.6799

Naturalist guided tour through CoskataCoatue Wildlife Refuge, Nantucket’s most expansive salt marsh. Members: Adult $30, Child (12 and under) $15. Nonmembers: Adult $40, Child (12 and under) $15.

TO SUNSET

Menemsha Hills Quest 508.693.7662

Discover the treasures that Menemsha Hills has to offer during this fun self-guided family treasure hunt! Quest clues and map available at Menemsha Hills entrance bulletin board.

FREE. Daily, Memorial Day – Columbus Day | 9AM-5PM ( QUEST DURATION : 1.5 HOURS )

Coskata Woods Quest

COSKATA-COATUE WILDLIFE REFUGE, NANTUCKET 508.228.0006

Discover the enchanting Coskata Woods as seen through the eyes of the students of The Nantucket Lighthouse School. Coskata-Coatue oversand vehicle permit required for vehicle access.Walkers welcome. Quest clues and map available at the Wauwinet Gatehouse. * Transportation from the Chappy side of the Edgartown Ferry is available with registration.

Saturday, April 28 | 9AM-1PM

Arbor Day Tree Planting Party!

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PEAKED MOUNTAIN, MONSON, 978.840.4446

Celebrate Arbor Day with friends and family.

Help us plant trees and shrubs at Peaked Mountain. Bring your gloves, shovel and a smile! FREE.

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Saturday, May 12 | 10AM-2PM

Rock House Spring Cleaning THE ROCK HOUSE RESERVATION, WEST BROOKFIELD 978.840.4446

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Help us get the Rock House ready for the summer. Join us as we do some trail maintenance, prepare the butterfly garden and put down some mulch. FREE. Saturday, May 19 | 10AM-2PM

Drumlin Day – Family Event

DEXTER DRUMLIN, LANCASTER 978.840.4446

Open April 13 – October 31 Mondays – Saturdays | 10AM-5PM ( EXCEPT HOLIDAYS ) Sundays & Holidays | 12NOON-5PM ( LAST TOUR AT 4:30 PM )

Guided Tours of The Old Manse

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

This famous house on the Concord River was the centerpiece of Concord’s political, social, and literary revolutions and inspiration for its famous inhabitants, Emerson and Hawthorne.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $8; Senior/Student $7; Child $5.

Monday, April 16 | 7:30PM

© TTOR

CENTRAL EVENTS

6th Annual Candlelight Remembrance Ceremony

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

A backdrop of 500 luminaries sets the stage for this program of patriotic music and remembrance held by the North Bridge.

Bring a flashlight and your voice. FREE.

Bring a kite and a picnic lunch to celebrate the arrival of spring. FREE.

Thursday, April 19 | 6AM

Saturday, June 2 | 3:30PM

Join the 202-year-old Concord Independent Battery, the oldest horse-drawn artillery unit in America, for its traditional cannon salute in honor of the events that started the American Revolution. FREE.

Wildflower Walk

PEAKED MOUNTAIN, MONSON, 978.840.4446

Enjoy some of the lesser known trails of the reservation. See a variety of wildflowers, walk along Temple Brook and explore some of the adjacent Monson Conservation Lands. Meet at the Miller Forest Tract. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adults $4, Child $2.

GREATER BOSTON

Hot Beds & Cold Frames – Extending Your Growing Season (BNAN) While other gardeners are waiting for the soil to thaw, you’ll learn when to plant hardy plants and how to protect tender ones using cold frames and hot beds. FREE.

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32nd Annual Gardeners Gathering Boston Natural Areas Network CURRY STUDENT CENTER, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 617.542.7696

Join community and backyard gardeners for workshops, plenary sessions, information gallery, community garden awards, and much more. Walk-in registration. FREE.

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POWISSET FARM, DOVER 508.785.0339

Saturday, April 21 | 10 -11:30AM

MATTAPAN 617.542.7696

Saturday, March 31 | 11AM-5PM

Bring Back the Blues

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

CITY NATIVES, 30 EDGEWATER DRIVE,

including Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN)

Sunday, April 1 | 10AM -12NOON

Dawn Salute

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Build a bluebird house to encourage nesting at Powisset Farm and in your own backyard!

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required. FREE. To build and take home a house of your own: Members $8; Nonmembers $16.

Saturday, May 5 | 10AM-12NOON

Plant Invaders: Garlic Mustard Control (BNAN)

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NIRA ROCK URBAN WILD, 20 NIRA AVENUE, JAMAICA PLAIN 617.542.7696

Learn to identify and remove this noxious weed from your own landscape while helping us to restore the ecology of Nira Rock Urban Wild.

Dress for the weather and light work. FREE.

Tully Lake Campground ROYALSTON 978.249.4957

Named one of the best family campgrounds in New England according to Appalachian Mountain Club. 35 walk-in tent campsites on the shores of Tully Lake, central bathhouse with hot showers, full-time ranger, canoes and kayaks available for rent. Enjoy swimming, paddling, hiking, and mountain biking, or just taking it easy.

We begin taking reservations for members only on April 2.

This year, members enjoy 50% discount off base rate. (Detailed rate, reservation and facility information at www.thetrustees.org.) Have your member number ready or join when you call.

Reservations for nonmembers begin on April 9. Season runs from May 25 – September 3;Weekends only from September 7 – October 8.

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Saturday, May 5 (Rain Date: May 12) | 10AM-3:30PM

Want to earn a site?

Help us ready the campground for the season and spend the night on us as a reward. Reservations required. FREE.

SpecialPLACES | SPRING 2007

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Monday, April 16 | 7:30-11AM & 11AM-5PM

Saturday, May 5 | 9:30-11AM

Spring Trees of Bird Park

FRANCIS WILLIAM BIRD PARK, WALPOLE

Patriot’s Day Parade

508.668.6136

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD

Kathleen Watson of Norfolk County Agricultural School will teach you to unravel the mysteries of spring tree identification using clues such as bark, leaves and tree shape. Space is limited. Please pre-register. FREE. May 5 or June 2 (DATE

TBD )

978.369.3909

| 10AM-3PM

Spring Planting Festival & Perennial Divide (BNAN) CITY NATIVES, 30 EDGEWATER DRIVE, MATTAPAN 617.542.7696

Plant swap, children’s activities, live music and a gardener’s market. At 1PM, watch a demonstration on bee-keeping. Select native plants for sale. FREE. Saturday, May 19 | 10AM-5PM ( LAST TOUR AT 4:30 PM )

Remembering our Armed Forces – House Tour THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

From the American Revolution through World War I, residents of the Manse have a long history of service to our nation.We welcome current and former military for guided tours.

FREE to those presenting military I.D Saturday, May 19 | 8AM-12NOON

Decoration Day Geranium and Plant Sale

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

The New England tradition of planting geraniums for Decoration Day (now called Memorial Day) continues! Plants courtesy of Colonial Gardens of Concord. Proceeds benefit educational programming and preservation of The Old Manse.

Wednesdays, May & June | 6-7AM

Elevate

BRADLEY ESTATE, CANTON 781.821.2996

Elevate your heart rate and your senses with a brisk walk around this 96-acre estate and

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THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

Saturday, May 19 | 10AM-2PM

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Celebrate the original New England patriots! Purchase morning refreshments at The Trustees’ tent on Concord’s famous parade route. Guided tours of The Manse from 11AM-5PM. Last tour by 4:30PM. House tours: Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $8, Senior/Student $7, Child $5.

The British are HERE! – Historical Reenactment

On April 19, 1775 the Manse’s grounds swarmed with British soldiers. For this event, Revolutionary War re-enactors introduce you to military life on the “other side.” FREE.

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enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of nature as spring turns to summer.Walks leave at 6AM SHARP from the main parking lot. FREE.

Saturday, June 9 | 10AM -12:30PM

Tuesdays, May 29, June 5, June 12 & Saturday, June 16 | 9:30AM

Join us for a guided trip down the Concord River to The Old Manse, and experience the landscape that inspired Emerson,Thoreau, and Hawthorne. Bring your own boat, or rent one on site. Reservations and pre-payment required.

Members: Adult $8, Child (age 12 and under) $5.

Nonmembers: Adult $16, Child (age 12 and under) $10. This program will be offered monthly through October.

House and Garden Tour

BRADLEY ESTATE, CANTON 781.821.2996

Visit the Estate’s main house and gardens and learn about the past, present and future of the grounds, including the sunken camellia house and walled kitchen garden. Please pre-register.

FREE. Saturday, June 2 | 10AM -12NOON

Get Ready to Garden [Grow] – Family Workshop BRADLEY ESTATE, CANTON 781.821.2996

Bring family for fun-filled morning of vegetable garden preparation and planting in the Bradley Estate’s greenhouse and walled kitchen garden.

Children learn the basics of a successful garden and leave with seeds to plant at home. Space is limited. Please pre-register. Members: FREE Nonmembers: Family $5.

Saturday, June 9 | 10AM -1:30PM

The “Garden Variety” Community Garden Tour (BNAN)

Join us for this delightful tour of community gardens in Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.We’ll carpool in small groups with a “talking guide” in each car. Snacks and beverages provided. FREE.

Paddling Back in Time – Guided Canoe Trip

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

Saturday, June 16 | TIME TBD Sunday, June 17 | TIME TBD

Riverfest

THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 978.369.3909

Learn about the history of Concord’s river recreation in a family-friendly partnership program with the Sudbury Valley Trustees. Details will be available at www.oldmanse.org and www.svtweb.org. FREE. Sunday, June 17

Fun, Farm, Father’s Day

BRADLEY ESTATE, CANTON 781.821.2996

Bring Dad, bring a picnic, explore a country estate. A chance for families to meet the animals, stroll the gardens, meander the trails or just relax. FREE.

NORTHEAST EVENTS

Sunday, April 1 | 1-3PM

Saturday, May 5 | 10AM-12NOON

Wildlife Walk – Discovery Hike

Spring Fever Walk – Discovery Hike

978.921.1944 X8815

Experience beautiful gardens in bloom, see carpets of spring bulbs, and take home ideas for your own garden. Reservations required.

Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

CASTLE HILL ON THE CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH

Saturday, March 31 | 10AM-12NOON

A variety of habitats make the Crane Estate a natural treasure and the perfect place to discover nature’s secrets. Reservations required.

Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

Pruning, Pruning, and Pruning – Adult Workshop LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

Join our expert horticultural staff for this popular hands-on workshop. Learn proper techniques and skills to make your plants look their best! Reservations required. Members: $28.

Nonmembers: $35.

Saturday April 7, May 5, or June 2 | 1-3PM

Pinnacle to Pinnacle Stroll – Discovery Hike

APPLETON GRASS RIDES, IPSWICH/HAMILTON 978.921.1944 X8815

© BOSTON NATURAL AREAS NETWORK

Enjoy landscapes created by the Appleton family.

See forests, pastures, and family memorials once adorning Harvard’s halls! Reservations required. Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

Sunday, April 8, May 13, or June 10 | 3-5PM

Farmstead Tour – Discovery Hike

APPLETON GRASS RIDES, IPSWICH/HAMILTON

978.921.1944 X8815

Learn the story of Appleton Farms – a working farm since 1636. Enjoy beautiful meadows, grazing cattle, historic buildings, and our working dairy. Reservations required. Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

Start vegetables indoors and pot them on as they grow. Learn when and how to harden off seedlings before planting them in the garden and how to protect tender seedlings from harsh weather.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $20.

MULTI-SESSION WORKSHOP

Tuesday, May 1 | 6:30-8PM

(BNAN OFFICE, 62 SUMMER STREET, BOSTON 617.542.7696)

Tuesday, May 15 | 6:30-8PM

(CITY NATIVES, 30 EDGEWATER DRIVE, MATTAPAN)

Tuesday, May 29 | 6:30-8PM

(CITY NATIVES, 30 EDGEWATER DRIVE, MATTAPAN)

Sunday, May 6 | 1-3PM

Ramble Through Time – Discovery Hike

RAVENSWOOD PARK, GLOUCESTER 978.921.1944 X8815

Journey through 600 million years of New England’s prehistoric past from ancient volcanoes to ice ages long ago. Reservations required.

Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

May 7, May 14, & May 21 (3 consecutive Mondays) | 4-5:30PM

Young Farmers – (3-5 Graders)

APPLETON GRASS RIDES, IPSWICH/HAMILTON 978.921.1944 X8815

Children become first-hand farm-hands as they dig in the dirt, compare compost, plant seeds, help care for cows, and more! Reservations required. Members: $40. Nonmembers: $50.

Friday, May 11 | 4-8 PM

Saturday, April 14 | 10AM-12NOON

Plant Sale Preview – Members Only

Spring Peeper Walk - Discovery Hike

Trustees members enjoy refreshments and first choice of plants on Friday evening. Highlights include trillium, peonies, bearded iris, old-fashioned roses, and ferns. Members only. FREE. Not a member? Come and join the evening of the event.

LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

Vegetable Seed Starting Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN)

LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

Explore Long Hill’s forest trails, with vernal pools, beautiful native plants, wildlife, and spectacular spring scenery. Reservations required.

Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

Tuesday, April 17 | 3-4:30PM

STEVENS-COOLIDGE PLACE, NORTH ANDOVER 978.682.3580

Saturday, May 12 | 10AM-2PM

Meet the Cows - Family Workshop

Stevens-Coolidge Plant Sale – For general public

978.921.1944 X8815

NORTH ANDOVER 978.682.3580

APPLETON GRASS RIDES, IPSWICH/HAMILTON

Welcome our spring calves and meet the cows in the dairy barn during milking.

Reservations required. Members: Adults $8, Child $4. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age is 6 years old (16 without adult).

STEVENS-COOLIDGE PLACE,

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Public sale of choice and hard-to-find perennials, plus tours of the gardens and Stevens-Coolidge historic house. Preview begins at 9AM, sale at 10AM. Gardening experts on hand.

Refreshments available. FREE.

Saturday, April 21 | 10AM-12NOON

Dune Detectives – Family Workshop CRANE BEACH AT THE CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH 978.921.1944 X8815

Search for animal signs with activities that will enhance your naturalist skills. Reservations required. Members: Adults $8, Child $4. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age is 6 years old (16 without adult).

SpecialPLACES | SPRING 2007

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Saturday, May 12 | 1-3PM

Tidepool Exploration – Family Workshop

CRANE BEACH AT CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH 978.921.1944 X8815

Explore Crane Beach’s rocky outcrops, where low tide exposes many marine organisms.

Reservations required. Members: Adults $8, Child $4.

Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age is 6 years old (16 without adult).

Sunday, May 13 | 1 or 3PM

Mother’s Day Tea & Tour at Castle Hill

© T. KATES

THE CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH 978.921.1944 X8815

HISTORIC HOUSE AND LANDSCAPE TOURS IN THE NORTHEAST REGION Saturdays & Sundays, June 2 – October 7 | 1-4pM

Paine House

GREENWOOD FARM, IPSWICH, 978.921.1944 X8815

A 1694 house on its original saltwater farm location. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $8, Child $5. Minimum age: 8 years old (16 without adult). Last tour starts at 3PM. Grounds FREE to all, 8AM-SUNSET. Saturdays & Sundays, June 2 – October 7 | 1-4PM

The Stevens-Coolidge Place

STEVENS-COOLIDGE PLACE, NORTH ANDOVER 978.921.1944 X8815

Step back in time at this elegant Colonial Revival estate with its spectacular gardens.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $8, Child $5. Minimum age: 8 years old (16 without adult). Last tour starts a 3PM. Grounds FREE to all, 8AM-SUNSET. Thursdays, 10AM-4PM; Fridays & Saturdays, 10AM-1PM May 31 – October 6

Great House at Castle Hill

CASTLE HILL ON THE CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH 978.921.1944 X8815

Overlooking Crane Beach and the Crane Wildlife Refuge, the 59-room mansion offers a glimpse of a by-gone era. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age: 8 years old (16 without adult). Last tour starts at 12NOON. Saturdays, June 2 – October 6 | 11AM (TOUR

LASTS

90 MINUTES )

Historic Landscape Tours of Castle Hill THE CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH 978.921.1944 X8815

Tour the grounds of this grand, seaside estate designed by Boston landscape architects Olmsted Bros. and Arthur Shurcliff. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age: 8 years old (16 without adult). Bring comfortable footwear and water bottle.

PHOTO: THE GREAT HOUSE AT CASTLE HILL

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THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

Make Mom queen for a day! Stroll the grounds, relax with tea and sumptuous teacakes from Capers Catering, then take a fabulous mansion tour. Reservations required. Members: $32.

Nonmembers: $40.

Saturday May 19 | 8 -10PM

What’s Up? – Family Workshop COOLIDGE RESERVATION,

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA 978.921.1944 X8815

Explore the night sky with powerful telescopes to search for planets, galaxies, and more with the Gloucester Astronomy Club. Reservations required. Members: Adults $8, Child $4. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age is 6 years old (16 without adult).

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Saturday, June 2 | 10AM-2PM

Long Hill Plant Sale For general public

LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

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The Long Hill plant sale is back with a great selection of unusual plants and old favorites including golden rain tree, Japanese snowbell, silk tree, Stewartia, and more! Enjoy a stroll through the Sedgewick Gardens, which will be in peak bloom. Horticultural experts will be on hand. FREE. Saturday, June 9 | 10AM -12NOON

Plant a Seed with your Children Family Workshop LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

Get your children excited about gardening!

Plant some seeds, explore the children’s garden, and bring home ideas for your own backyard.

Reservations required. Members: Adult $8, Child $4.

Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $5. Minimum age is 6 years old (16 without adult).

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Saturday, June 9 | 6-8PM

April, Date TBD | 9AM-1PM ( RAIN

Beach Bloomers – Discovery Hike CRANE BEACH AT CRANE ESTATE, IPSWICH

Annual Chapel Brook Workday

Discover the amazing adaptations and survival tricks of woolly beachheather, prickly pear, and more. Reservations required. Members: $4. Nonmembers: $5. Minimum age is 10 (16 without adult).

Join members of the AMC Climbing group as we continue to improve the trail up the mountain. Bring a picnic and watch the climbing afterwards. FREE.

978.921.1944 X8815

OR SHINE )

CHAPEL BROOK, ASHFIELD 413.684.0148

Saturday, June 23 | 10AM-12NOON

Sunday, April 22 | 1-3PM

Native Shrubs for the Home Landscape - Adult Workshop

Woodland Pool Frolic – Family Hike

LITTLE TOM MOUNTAIN, HOLYOKE 413.532.1631 X13

LONG HILL, BEVERLY 978.921.1944 X8815

This workshop focuses on native shrubs to use in your garden designs.Topics include growth habits, season of bloom, soil requirements and more. Reservations required. Members: $28.

Nonmembers: $35.

PIONEER VALLEY Daily, March & April NOTCHVIEW, WINDSOR 413.684.0148

March and April are often a great time of the year to Nordic ski. Members: FREE weekdays, half-price weekends. Nonmembers: Adult $10, Child $3.

Making Your Woods Wildlife Friendly – Adult Workshop NOTCHVIEW, WINDSOR 413.268.8219

Cutting trees to benefit wildlife?? Strange, but true! Learn how we manage the Notchview forest for wildlife, and how timber-harvesting could attract more creatures to your own property. FREE. Sunday, May 13 | 1:30-4:30PM

Moderate hike to Little Tom’s magical vernal pool where we’ll look for fairy shrimp and the egg masses of wood frogs and salamanders.

Wear sturdy shoes and prepare to get wet!

Co-sponsored by DCR. Please pre-register.

Recommended for ages 8 and up (1-1.5 miles roundtrip). FREE.

Spring Wildflowers of Field and Forest – Family Hike

Saturday, April 28 | 10AM-1PM

Weekdays in May |

Life in a Vernal Pool

Garlic Mustard Control

Vernal (spring) pools are crucial for the survival of many woodland species. Learn the complex ecology of these special natural communities with Trustees Ecologist Julie Richburg. Come prepared for a short hike and to get wet and muddy. Please pre-register. Recommended for ages 13 and up. FREE.

NOTCHVIEW, WINDSOR 413.684.0148

LITTLE TOM MOUNTAIN, HOLYOKE 413.532.1631 X13

Ski Notchview

Saturday, May 12 | 10AM -12NOON

LITTLE TOM MOUNTAIN, HOLYOKE 413.532.1631 X13

Mother’s Day and May flowers only happen once a year. Come to Little Tom to search for and learn about common spring ephemerals on this easy to moderate, two-mile hike.

Please pre-register. FREE.

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CALL FOR DATES

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BRYANT HOMESTEAD, CUMMINGTON 413.684.0148

Annual offensive to route out this noxious weed from the Homestead and Notchview. Learn about the importance of this project with respect to the rare Mustard White butterfly.

FREE. Sense of accomplishment: priceless.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT HOMESTEAD Open Friday – Sunday, June 22 – Labor Day | 1- 5PM

CUMMINGTON 413.634.2244 Boyhood home of one of America's foremost 19th-century poets, and a National Historic Landmark. Guided House Tours: Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Adult $5. Child $2.50.

SPECIA L EXHIBIT

Hale & Hearty: William Cullen Bryant and 19th Century Health & Fitness

Health and fitness were a lifelong passion for Bryant. On view are his exercise equipment, health journals, medications and account of his daily regimen, which included pole vaulting over his bed. FREE to all.

I Spy! (ages 3-9)

Discover the Homestead’s secrets as you and your child enjoy a self-guided walk using a hands-on “SPY PACK.” Pack rental: Members: Child $4. Nonmembers: Child $6.

Special family rate. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Sunday, June 24 | 2-4PM

© M. ARDUSER

Poetry in the Country

Lounge in the bucolic surroundings that inspired William Cullen Bryant’s poetry, and listen while the Florence Poetry Society members read from their original poems.

Refreshments available. FREE to all.

Sunday, May 27 | 8-9:30AM

Saturday, April 28 | 1-3PM

Birding by Ear – Guided Hike

Fish Migrations

Learn how to bird by ear with naturalist John Green as we scout the spring woods for bird song. Bring binoculars and bug spray. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $5.

Red Brook provides habitat for herring and rare sea-run brook trout that move between fresh and salt water.Warren Winders of Trout Unlimited will illuminate these hidden migrations and show you how you can help restore Red Brook. Please pre-register. FREE.

NOTCHVIEW, WINDSOR 413.684.0148

SOUTHEAST EVENTS Fridays through Spring | 9:30AM

Spring Ecosplorations Afterschool Program

WORLD’S END, HINGHAM, WEIR RIVER FARM,

LYMAN RESERVE, BOURNE 508.679.2115

HINGHAM, TURKEY HILL, HINGHAM/COHASSET 781.740.4796

Spring is the season for squishing in the mud, searching the woods for signs of life and seeking out adventures during this unique afterschool experience. Please pre-register. Five sessions: Members: $40. Nonmembers: $55.

Saturday, April 28 | 12NOON -3 PM

(AGE 5-6) Tuesdays, May

3:30-5PM

Celebration of Spring

Walk World’s End

WORLD’S END, HINGHAM 781.740.6665

Rain or shine, bring a friend along for a weekly walk of World’s End. FREE admission for all ages.

Early April, Date TBA | 9-10PM

WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM 781.740.7233

1, 8, 15, 22, 29 |

(AGE 7-10) Wednesdays, May

Spring on the farm is a time to get ready for the growing season. Join our community as we shear the sheep and prepare for another exciting year.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $3 per person.

3:30-5PM

2, 9, 16, 23, 30 |

Saturdays starting May 5 | 12NOON -3PM

Open Barnyard at Weir River Farm

Salamander Soirée

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE, FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

Vernal pools might not look like much, but for a few nights each spring these big puddles are teeming with the mating frenzy of wood frogs and spotted salamanders. Exact date dependent on weather conditions. Please pre-register. FREE. Thursday, April 12 | 6:30-8:30PM HINGHAM RECREATION CENTER, HINGHAM

781.740.4796

First chance to sign up your child for Farm Hands andYoung Ecologists. For more information please call 781.740.7233 or visit our website www.thetrustees.org.

One hundred years ago, family farms were a common sight in Hingham. Meet our sheep, chickens, horses and goats, and enjoy the ambiance of one of the last examples in town.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $3 per person.

WORLD’S END, HINGHAM; NORRIS

RESERVATION, NORWELL; WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM 781.740.4796

Spring is a beautiful time to connect to your children while they connect to these “special” places. Please pre-register. Five sessions: Members: $40. Nonmembers: $55 (price for one adult and one child).

(AGE 2-3) Wednesdays, May

Children’s Summer Program Registration

WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM 781.740.7233

Spring Family Outings

10-11:30AM

Saturday, May 5 | 6-9AM

Birding in the Bioreserve

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE,

2, 9, 16, 23, 30 |

FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

Large unfragmented areas like the Bioreserve support an array of warblers and other interior forest birds. Join Fred Thurber of the Paskamansett Bird Club at the height of the spring migration. Bring binoculars. Please pre-register. FREE.

(AGE 4-5) Tuesdays, May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 | 10-11:30AM

Saturday, April 14 | 10AM-2PM

Paddle the Charles River Gateway

CHARLES RIVER, MEDFIELD 781.784.0567 X7001

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Experience spring on a quiet section of the Charles graced with many shoreline land parcels permanently protected by The Trustees,The Commonwealth, and other conservation actors.

Head ashore with trip leader Bob Costello for a short hike up to King Philip’s Lookout. BYO lunch. Limited to 10 kayaks/canoes (please bring your own boat and life jackets). Call to pre-register or email acostello84@comcast.net. FREE.

Saturday, April 7 | 9AM-12NOON

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

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WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM 781.740.7233

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Expert mason Chris Tracey will teach you the lost art of dry stack stonewall building as we restore the 150 year-old stone walls of the Miller Homestead.

Please pre-register. FREE.

THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

© K. MCMAHON

The whole family is invited to pitch in as we spruce up the barnyard for its spring debut! Bring a picnic to enjoy afterward. Please pre-register.

Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $5 per family.

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SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE, FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

Monday,April 16 or Friday,April 20 | 10-11:30AM

Family Farm Hands

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Monday, April 16 & Friday, April 20 | 12NOON-3PM

April Vacation – Special Barnyard Hours WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM

© K. MCMAHON

781.749.7233

You don’t need to travel far for vacation!

Bring your family and a picnic then enjoy a hike and visit with our animals. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $3 per person.

Tuesday, April 17 – Thursday, April 19 | 9AM-12NOON

April Vacation Nature Program (ages 6-10) HINGHAM/COHASSET; NORRIS

RESERVATION, NORWELL 781.740.4796

Vacation adventures are waiting for you!

From the tiniest mosquito larvae to salamander egg masses we will look for signs of spring in a saltmarsh, vernal pool and pond. Space limited. Please pre-register.

Members: $75. Nonmembers: $90. © T. KATES

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The Big Walk

Biodiversity Day

FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

BIORESERVE, FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE,

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

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Lace up your hiking boots and experience the vastness of the unbroken forest on a walk spanning the full length of the 13,600-acre Bioreserve. Please pre-register. FREE.

Protecting biodiversity is a main objective of the Bioreserve. Help us create a list of plants and animals of the Bioreserve during statewide Biodiversity Week. Please pre-register. FREE.

Sunday, May 20 | 1-3PM

Sunday, June 3 | 9 -11AM

Wildflower Walk

World’s End Rocks!

FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

If you think you know the history of World’s End, step back in time with geologist Lester Tyrala for a look at ancient volcanic and sedimentary bedrock of the Boston Basin. Sturdy footwear required. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: Admission to World’s End.

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE,

The well-drained, acid soils of the Bioreserve are ideal for late spring wildflowers, including Pink Lady's Slipper and Birdfoot Violet. Join naturalist Anne Wagner to see what’s blooming in the Miller Brook Conservation Area. Please pre-register. FREE.

WEIR RIVER FARM, HINGHAM 781.740.7233

Barnyard stories come to life when you get to meet the main characters! Geared towards preschoolers, but open to all. Members: FREE. Nonmembers: $3 per person.

Sunday, June 10 | 7AM

East Over Bird Walk

EAST OVER RESERVATION, ROCHESTER 508.679.2115

Bill Gill of the Paskamansett Bird Club leads a walk through the forests and fields in search of Orioles, Bobolinks and Bluebirds. Please pre-register. FREE. Saturday, June 16 | 9 -11AM

WESTPORT TOWN FARM, WESTPORT 508.679.2115

WHITNEY/THAYER WOODS,

Saturday, May 12 | 9AM

Outdoor Story Hour

Westport Town Farm Tour

WORLD’S END, HINGHAM;

Saturday, June 2 | 1-3PM

Wednesdays starting June 6 | 10-11AM

For over a century this farm sheltered the town’s paupers and infirm. As part of our conservation efforts in Westport, we plan to revitalize and provide public access to this scenic landmark. Please pre-register. FREE. Thursday, June 21 | 6-8:30PM

Summer Solstice Celebration

WORLD’S END RESERVATION, HINGHAM 781.740.6665

Almost 40 years ago the people of Hingham generously raised funds to protect World’s End forever. Bring your family and a picnic and share in our annual “Thank you” celebration complete with music, drinks, dessert and a breathtaking sunset! Members: Adult $5.

Nonmembers: Adult $10. Children under 12: FREE. Friday, June 22 | 7-9PM

Summer Solstice by Candlelight

SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BIORESERVE, FALL RIVER 508.679.2115

Celebrate the arrival of summer and enjoy the quiet beauty of Copicut Woods at twilight with a candlelit walk down Miller Lane. Please pre-register. FREE.

WORLD’S END, HINGHAM

SpecialPLACES | SPRING 2007

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FIND YOUR PLACE

Long Hill, Beverly © R. CHEEK

YOUR ADVENTURE ©TOM KATES / WORLD’S END, HINGHAM

OUR PL ACE IN

FI N D YOUR P L ACE

Together with our neighbors, we protect the distinct character of our communities and inspire a commitment to special places.

Our passion is to share with everyone the irreplaceable natural and cultural treasures we care for.

Special PLACES THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

572 Essex Street Beverly, MA 01915-1530

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

P A I D N.READING, MA PERMIT NO.140